Business Jet Traveler

The singer-songwriter—still going strong nearly 60 years after his first hit—discusses his craft, explains why he’ll never retire and recalls how a bizjet helped him fill a concert request from Vladimir Putin.
Singer/songwriter Paul Anka admits that he may have been the unlikeliest of pop stars when he burst onto the musical stage in the 1950s. “I was short, stocky, had a big nose and was far from the mold of the matinee-idol type,” says the artist, who turned 74 in July. But what he may have lacked in looks, he made up in talent.

These days, everyone in the aviation field talks about composite aircraft. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is made mostly of carbon fiber composites, and the percentage of composite content in new business jet designs is on the rise. Over time, carbon fiber may, indeed, replace metal as the material of choice for aircraft. But how did we get here?

An aircraft buyer waiting for delivery of his new Gulfstream G650 once complained that the manufacturer “wasn’t promoting instant gratification.” Who could blame him? The scheduled delivery was eight years away. With a wait like that if you don’t have another aircraft that you don’t mind flying for the better part of a decade, you might as well buy one to tide you over.

Growth could literally be in the cards for the bizav industry. Sentient Jet, which claims 4,000 jet card customers, reports 35 percent sales growth for 2014, while card purchases at Delta Private Jets set records last year and card hours flown in NetJets’ Marquis program saw double-digit growth.

You know things are out of control when the Burg-Al-Arab starts to seem like a bargain. The Dubai hotel, designed in the shape of a sail billowing over Jumeirah Beach, has long been considered the model of ultra-luxury for those who desire an over-the-top lodging experience. If you really want to impress your in-laws, you can book the Burg-Al-Arab’s marble-and-gold-filled Royal Suite, which comes complete with a dining room for 12, a library, a cinema room and a team of butlers to cater to your every whim. The tab: approximately $24,000 a night.

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Quote/Unquote

““Corporate executives should be your core business…You need [salespeople who are] comfortable with the kind of boardroom leaders that see Lear Jet as a tool, not a frivolous extravagance for movie stars and their pets.
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-Advertising executive Pete Campbell to a Lear Jet executive on the penultimate episode of TV’s Mad Men series, set in 1970